EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH-GERMAN VALLEY HISTORY, WASHINGTON TWP., MORRIS, NEW JERSEY

Copyright (c) 2000 by Stewart J. A. Woolever, Jr. (sjaw@citilink.net).

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CHURCHES OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, GERMAN VALLEY.
For our account of this church we are indebted to the late pastor, the Rev.
A. Hiller.

This is probably the oldest church organization in the township and is the
only Lutheran church in the county. It does not appear that the early
settlers brought any ministers with them to this country; neither is it
likely that they had any settled pastors for many years after their arrival.
The Lutherans were probably visited from time to time by missionaries sent
out from Hamburg and Holland as early as 1730. We have information that John
Augustus Wolf, A. M., of Lobeglen, was ordained at Hamburg and sent as
missionary to the province of New Jersey in the year 1734. The Lutheran
church in the Valley for many years formed a part of the organization called
Zion Church at Germantown, Hunterdon county, eight miles distant. The
pastors lived there and preached here every third or fourth Sunday. There is
a tradition that the first church edifice was built of logs, and that it
stood on or near the site of the old stone church, the walls of which are
still standing. This church was built by the Lutherans and the German
Reformed people, probably as early as 1747. The old stone church referred to
above was also built by the two congregations as a union church, in the year
1774. The walls are still standing, and with proper care will continue to
stand for another century. The construction of this church is peculiar, and
differs materially from the style of church architecture of to-day. It has
no steeple and no gable ends, the roof sloping down to the walls on the four
sides. There are two rows of windows on each side and there is no chimney.
Over the little pulpit box which stood on one leg against the north side of
the audience room was suspended a great "sounding board," and there were
galleries on three sides of the church.

First among the early Lutheran ministers who preached here was the Rev.
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, D. D., known as the "father of American
Lutheranism," a man of great learning and deep piety. Besides his knowledge
of Greek and Hebrew he spoke English, German, Dutch, French, Latin and
Swedish. He visited the different German settlements throughout the country
and organized the scattered Lutherans, and afterward saw that they were
provided with pastors. He was here as early as 1745. In March 1746 Rev. John
Kurtz was sent here for a season "to collect the scattered flocks and
instruct the young." In 1748 Rev. John Christopher Hartwick, the founder of
Hartwick Seminary, N. Y., took charge of the congregation, but remained only
a short time, when he accepted a call to New York city. He was followed in
1749 by the Rev. John Albert Weygand, who was ordained as the regular
preacher of this charge on the first Sunday in Advent, 1750. Mr. Weygand was
succeeded in 1753 by Pastor Schenck, of whose labors we have no further
information. The latter was followed by the Rev. Dr. H. M. Muhlenberg, who
had frequently visited this field before and exercised a sort of presiding
eldership over it. He was pastor here from the 3d of June 1759 until the 2nd
of May 1760. Dr. Muhlenberg was followed in 1760 by the Rev. Paul D.
Brizelius, a Swede by birth, who had recently been licensed "by the Synod of
the United American Lutheran Church of the Swedish and German Nations." It
was during his pastorate that the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg organized the
congregation at German Valley. In 1767 Pastor Brizelius accepted a call to
Nova Scotia and was succeeded by the Rev. Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, the
eldest son of Dr. Muhlenberg, who, having finished his studies at Halle, in
Germany, had recently returned to America. He was settled here February 5th
1769. In 1772 he accepted a call to Woodstock, Va. The American Revolution
breaking out soon after he earnestly espoused the cause of the colonists and
joined the army, accepting from General Washington a colonel's commission.
He raised the Eighth regiment, 300 men enlisting from his own congregations.
He remained in the army until the close of the war, at which time he
occupied the honored position of major general. He never returned to the
ministry. He was succeeded as pastor here by his brother Henry Ernst
Muhlenberg, who came here as assistant pastor to his father, who still had
the supervision of the church in the year 1773. He styles himself "deputy
rector of Zion." It was during his ministry that the old stone church was
built. He was succeeded in July 1775 by the Rev. William Graaf, who was a
native of Leinengen in the southwestern part of Germany. He pursued his
theological studies at Geissen, in Hesse Darmstadt. He is described as a
"learned and pious minister of the gospel, faithful in the discharge of his
official duties, and a kind and indulgent parent." He was pastor here until
his death, in 1809. During his ministry the Lutheran church at Spruce Run
was organized. He was succeeded August 31st 1809 by the Rev. Earnest Lewis
Hazelius, D. D., who, besides preaching to three congregations from nine to
sixteen miles apart, successfully conducted
Page 385

a classical academy. In the year 1815 he was elected professor of Christian
theology and principal of the classical department of Hartwick Seminary, N.
Y., and immediately entered upon the work assigned him. He was succeeded
August 5th 1816 by the Rev. David Hendricks, a graduate of Union College,
Schenectady, N. Y., and who had studied theology under the direction of the
Rev. Frederick Mayer, at Albany, N. Y. Mr. Hendricks was succeeded August
18th 1822 by the Rev. Henry Newmen Pohlman, D. D., who was pastor here
twentyone years. During his pastorate, in the winter of 1839-40, a
remarkable revival occurred in the church at New Germantown. Over 200 were
converted; of whom 140 joined the associated churches.

Dr. Pohlman, having accepted a call to a church in Albany, N. Y., was
succeeded here November 10th 1843 by the Rev. James R. Keiser. During his
ministry a separation took place between the old mother church at New
Germantown and the church at German Valley. The first resident pastor here
was the Rev. Ephraim Deyoe, who succeeded Mr. Keiser in Nevember 1846.
During his ministry the parsonage was built. He was succeeded by Rev. A.
Hiller, September 9th 1858. During Mr. Hiller's ministry the church and
parsonage were rebuilt. In 1881 he received and accepted a call to be
professor of systematic theology in the Hartwick Theological Seminary, N.
Y., to enter upon his labors there about the middle of September 1881, which
completed the twenty-third year of his ministry in German Valley.